Tech

I purchased this product and all opinions are my own. I was not paid for this review.

I have always loved the latest tech and I use my phone A LOT! That is why I knew I had to have the latest Juicepack Air iPhone 7 Plus battery case from Mophie. Not only does it add battery life of my already long iPhone battery but it adds wireless charging to the iPhone so I will no longer get teased by my Android-loving friends.

Case Selection

I have used Mophie’s battery cases in the past and was immediately disappointed that Mophie did not have a case for the iPhone 7 plus when it launched. They kept sending me emails that it was coming and that it was going to be amazing, so I decided to wait. Besides, I could not find any other cases that would incorporate wireless charging.

Battery

Unlike how Mophie has offered different size cases with varying battery capacities in the past, the only option now is a 2420mAh battery which doesn’t quite double the 2900mAh battery built into the iPhone.

Color & Finish

The only real option is color but the price I paid for being an early adopter was that Best Buy had not yet received all of the 5 different colors (black, rose gold, gold, navy and red) when I wanted to order. So I settled on black and also decided I should order one for my wife in the rose gold.

I was quite surprised when they arrived that the black is a matte rubbery finish yet the rose gold is a painted, almost glossy, finish. This drastically changes the look of the two cases. So much so that if I hadn’t known better I would have thought they were from two different brands. It also let to my wife disliking her case. The glossy finish always made her feel like it was going to slip out of her hands.

Size

The iPhone 7 plus is not a small phone. When you add this battery case to it, it more than doubles in thickness and weight. I recognize that any battery case will do that and it is not a big issue for me as I have big hands and huge pockets but for my wife it was just “too big”.

Wireless Charging and Operation

Charging

I mentioned earlier how wireless charging was a key feature that I wanted to add to my iPhone. This case delivers that feature and does it well. Mophie uses that standard Qi protocol used by wireless charging Android phones so the same chargers should work. I bought Mophie’s Charge Force desk mount charger which uses magnets to hold the phone vertically while it charges. The magnets are very powerful and I have never had a fear of it falling off. The mount also has a sticky bottom if you want to keep it in place on you desk. It has enough weight that it won’t fall over even if you don’t stick it down though.

It definitely has a certain “coolness” feature to it knowing that my phone is charging and I didn’t plug it in. It feels like the future.

My biggest “charging” complaint is that Mophie still uses microUSB instead of lightning cables for iPhones. This means that if you need to charge somewhere where you don’t have wireless charging (like a hotel), you had better remember to bring a microUSB cable. This also prevents any use of wired headphones as you can’t use Apple’s lightning to headphone adapter.

Operation

If you have ever used a Mophie battery case before, you are used to the lights on the back of the case showing how charged it is and the little switch that you enable to start charging your phone. This case still has the battery capacity light but the switch is gone!

This totally changes the way the case operates. The battery case is always on keeping your phone battery at 100% until the case dies. The concept works fine but on more than one occasion I have offered my wife my dead case to charge her phone without even thinking to check the battery lights on the back of the case.

As far as I can tell, the case operates this same way when it is being charged on the wireless dock too. You are only charging the case with the power from the dock, then the case charges the phone.

The Verdict

If you need extra battery capacity, the Mophie Juicepack Air Case for iPhone 7 Plus, is probably one of the best options on the market and it gives the added benefit of wireless charging. Unless you are in love with a certain color, I recommend staying with the matte black finish as it is much grippier and easier to hold.

With 6 kids, I am always looking for new and exciting ways for them to learn. Amazon recently launched a subscription service that is designed to make my job easy. Amazon’s STEM Club sends an educational age-appropriate STEM toy every month for only $19.99. The service promises to pick only the best science, tech, engineering and math toys. They state they will be from “top trusted brands” and “from robotics to natural sciences there is always a new discovery on the way”.

Given that I have kids in all of Amazon’s age groups, I may have to try them all.

Have you been wondering if you can make a good side income driving for Uber? As a father of six, I’m always looking for a good side hustle so I set out to see if Uber was a valid way to make some extra money.

People claim that they can’t make enough money to make a career out of driving for Uber. I wanted to test it out for myself so I signed up as a driver. I love the idea of something flexible that parents can use to earn extra funds and still allow them to work around hectic family schedules.

Getting Started with Uber

The process to get setup with Uber was pretty simple. I signed up online then attended an in-person event to finish the process. They ran a background check, requested some documentation and a vehicle inspection. The entire process went fairly smoothly, despite the fact that I chose to use my electric car, a BMW i3 (more on that later).

Driving for the First Time

With the kids off to school, I put the Uber placard in my window, placed pepper spray in the driver’s door (just in case) and logged into the Uber Partners app on my smartphone to tell them I was ready to drive. Within minutes, I got a notification that someone wanted a ride. I accepted and used the GPS within the app to drive to the pickup location.

My first passenger was an older couple who wanted a ride to the train station, a short 14 minute ride of 7.63 miles and a fare of $14.06.

I can do this, I thought.

Safety

One of the biggest concerns people have about driving for Uber is safety. Will they be safe while driving? Since there have been a few high-profile news stories about Uber passengers getting violent, this seemed like a valid concern.

I didn’t find safety to be an issue. I met lots of very nice people and drove in areas I was familiar with.

I did take a few precautions. I kept mace in my door just in case and used a mount for my smartphone so I could stay handsfree.

I learned almost immediately that you MUST have some sort of mount to hold your smartphone in place. I honestly think Uber should make this part of the vehicle inspection. It is simply not safe to be looking at a phone for directions or where to pick someone up without a mount.

Proclip makesvehicle-specific mounts for just about any car and sent us one that was perfect for the i3 coupled with my iPhone 6S Plus. The mount even charges the phone and will accommodate a wide range of cases.

I always stopped driving by about 10pm so that I was taking people out for the night rather than bringing them home. So far I’ve avoided picking up an overly drunk passenger. I think this is a major part of the reason why I have never felt unsafe, but you do make more money if you are willing to drive later at night.

Flexibility

I loved the flexibility Uber offered. I was able to login to drive anytime I wanted and sign out anytime I was done. I found that demand is always highest in the evenings on the weekends here in San Diego. I did try and schedule my driving around those times as much as possible because I knew that I would make more money driving during those times, but I was free to set my own hour and adjust them to fit my schedule.

Demand

Demand while the kids are at school was a lot more sporadic. I might give several rides back to back and then have nothing for hours. I also found that even though Uber is completely flexible with when I can login and work, the end time is much more difficult to schedule as you never know where the next ride is going to take you. It might be right next to your kids’ school (which I had happen perfectly once) or your last ride might want you to drive them to the airport which could take hours so you want to make sure you aren’t on a tight time schedule while driving.

Overall, the experience was good and driving for Uber is something I think I’ll continue to do as my schedule allows time for it. I met some great people and it was a really interesting experience. I actually found that it was great for networking and as a work at home dad it was a great way to get out of the house.

Every year I watch the Super Bowl with my kids. We enjoy lots of great food, cheer for our favorite team and laugh at the Super Bowl ads. This year, like last, I loved that most of the ads were very kid-friendly. There were no sleazy GoDaddy ads and not even the Pepsi ad of years past. This year it was KungFu Panda, weiner dogs running towards ketchup, a family sitting down for PizzaHut together and a dad watching out for his teenage girl on a date. It seems that the advertising companies are now trying to attract the attention of families.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouTeio9AzGQ[/embedyt]

As a parent, I laughed at the Doritos Ultrasound ad of a baby wanting to eat Doritos and was honestly intrigued by how many people it offended. I have snuck my kids all kinds of things before they were supposed to have it so the idea of an unborn baby wanting Doritos does not offend me.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugn_qmQ0NFo[/embedyt]

My 10 yr old son loved the T-Mobile “Drop the Balls” ad! He didn’t know anything about Steve Harvey’s Miss Universe mess-up. He just loved seeing all the balls overwhelm and make fun of Verizon as he has seen their ads.